Timothy P. Brown's Blog, page 19

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... The Notre Dame Shift

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I discuss the Notre Dame Box or Shift, its origins, and how the offense worked. Darin has lots of fun film showing as we discuss the offense.

Watch or listen to the podcast here. I still have not published a Tidbit on this topic.

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1883 Michigan-Stevens Institute Game

Michigan's 1883 team was the only non-Eastern team playing football at their level. This series uses period publications to cover Michigan's trip east to play Wesleyan, Yale, Harvard, and the Stevens Institute in nine days.

Previous posts in the series: Intro | Wesleyan ($) | Yale ($) | Harvard ($)

Everyone agrees that after Michigan lost to Wesleyan, Yale, and Harvard during their 1883 trip east, they faced Stevens Institute on a Tuesday afternoon at the hallowed St. George's Cricket Grounds in H...

Today's Tidbit... When The Gophers Played With Fire

The Tidbit from a week ago covered the itinerary and game during the Minnesota Gophers' trip to play Washington in Seattle in 1941. Last week’s story mentioned that Minnesota made the same trip in 1936 but said nothing about those events. However, an alert reader, Phil Allen, recalled that the Minnesota team experienced a fire at their hotel during one of the trips to Seattle, so I looked into the claim and found it was true.

The 43 members of the 1936 Minnesota traveling party left the Twin Citi...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Pa Corbin's Trickeration

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I discuss Yale center, Pa Corbin, and a trick he pulled by leveraging a rule that remained on the books after most stopped using it.

Watch or listen to the podcast here and/or read the original Tidbit.

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Factoid Feast XII: Happy 55-Yard Line Elimination Day

As discussed in Factoid Feasts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI, my searches through football history sometimes lead to topics too important to ignore but too minor to Tidbit. Such nuggets are factoids, three of which are shared today.

Happy 55-Yard Line Elimination Day

On this day, in the year nineteen hundred and twelve, American football eliminated its 55-yard line, making the field 100 yards long rather than 110. The rule makers also added end zones to the field to allow forward...

Grand Football Archaeologist 2.0

In January 2023, I proudly announced the birth of Grand Football Archaeologist 1.0. Today, we celebrate the arrival of Grand Football Archaeologist 2.0.

Like the first time, we celebrate children by showing a few vintage images of football kids.

Boys snapping a football on New Year’s Day 1896. (Private photograph, Personal collection) 1906 image of Stanley R. (7) and Elroyn F. Sylvester (RPPC, Personal collection) 1937 Independence, MO, youth football team with 12 kids in formation. Perhaps they pl...

Today's Tidbit... All Aboard for 1941 Minnesota @ Washington

While I enjoy trying to understand the history of football rules, equipment, and the nature of play, gaining an understanding of fan behavior in years gone by is every bit as fun. I've published previous stories about team travel and packages for fans traveling to away games, but the 1930 Loyola of Chicago @ St. Louis and 1957 Army-Navy stories covered weekenders or day trips. Today's Tidbit covers a long-distance itinerary for fans riding the rails to Minnesota's season-opening game at Washingt...

Today's Tidbit... Wabash and Kent Lambert's Forward Pass Innovations

You never know where an innovation might arise, but football's history is filled with players and coaches who identified gaps in the rules and used them to their advantage. Two innovations came at the hand of Kent "Skeet" Lambert, who played for the Wabash College Little Giants, finishing his career in 1912.

Kent .C. "Skeet" Lambert in 1911. (1912 Wabash yearbook,)

Lambert played under Jess Harper, the former Chicago player who left Wabash after the 1912 season to take over at Notre Dame. His firs...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... A Look At Football Officials' Gear

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I discuss the history of the gear that football officials wore over the years. The path toward the official gear for officials took a long and tortuous path that tells a fun story about the game’s history and a few connections with other sports.

Watch or listen to the podcast here and/or read the original Tidbits below.

If you like Football Archaeology, become of free subscriber, and if you love Football Archaeology, become a paid subscriber for $5/month ...

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... The Football Helmet As Icon

Pigskin Dispatch podcaster Darin Hayes and I are joined by Noah Cohan from Washington University in St. Louis to discuss the history of the football helmets, focusing on its role as an icon. It’s a fun discussion a bit different from our norm.

Watch or listen to the podcast here and/or read the original Tidbit.

If you like Football Archaeology, become of free subscriber, and if you love Football Archaeology, become a paid subscriber for $5/month or $50/year.

Subscribe now

You can also support the s...